1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to pump dispensers for use with substrates such as paper towels, wipes, woven or nonwoven dishcloth, and sponges, and more specifically, to pump dispensers that have a pump actuator that is separate from its dispensing pad.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumers have traditionally applied cleaning and disinfecting compositions by spraying on a surface and wiping with a paper towel or by adding a cleaner to a sponge, activating with water, wiping with the sponge, and rinsing the sponge. This procedure is inefficient because the consumer must go through several cleaning steps.
Current dispensers are not adequate for one hand application of cleaning and disinfecting compositions to cleaning substrates such as paper towels. Dispensers such as trigger sprayers or pump dispensers generally require one hand to hold and activate the dispenser and one hand to hold the cleaning substrates. Existing pump-up dispensers that can be ergonomically operated with the same hand that holds the cleaning substrate have small actuators that require the hand and substrate to be contracted into a ball in order to activate the dispenser.
Wet disinfectant or cleaning wipes, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,805 to Sherry et al., are becoming increasingly popular for their convenience in combining a nonwoven, disposable substrate with a disinfecting or cleaning solution. Soap-loaded disposable dish cloths, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,869 to Suazon et al., are also popular for their convenience. These products combine the cleaning solution and the cleaning substrate in one system so that the consumer can perform the cleaning task with one hand and with one product. However, these systems have some drawbacks such as requiring water activation of a dry substrate or requiring a sealed packaging for a wet substrate.
To overcome these problems of cleaning systems and cleaning products, the cleaning device and cleaning system of the present invention is designed to allow the consumer to conveniently apply a cleaning or disinfecting composition to a substrate with one hand and in a controlled manner.